Lost Love
by galindapopular
Summary: Sequel to Prom Problems: Freshman year of college, Luis comes to visit Julie at BC, but after their messy breakup she won't talk to him. Meanwhile she's been spending a lot of time with Banks and Scooter.
1. Surprise

**Authors Note: Ok, so I was going through my profile earlier this week, and I reread the first story in this set, "Prom Problems" and I remembered that I had thought about a sequel. So here is said sequel.**

**Summary: Sequel to "Prom Problems" Freshman Year of college, Julie is attending BC with Scooter and Banks, her relationship with Luis ended badly, so when he comes to see her she isn't too thrilled about it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mighty Ducks, Julie Gaffney, Luis Mendoza, Adam Banks, Charlie Conway or Scooter Vanderbilt. I also don't own the unnamed teen soap mentioned in the begining or any of its affiliated characters. With that, I give you, Lost Love!

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Chapter 1: Surprise! **

Julie Gaffney sat in her dorm room on a chilly Boston Wednesday evening. She was watching TV while she waited for her friend Adam Banks to come in and then go out partying.

"Pacy," the overtly attractive brunette on the screen mused, "I'm worried about what he'll say, not because he was my boyfriend for three months but because for fifteen years before that he was my best friend. And yours too."

"Yeah I hear you." She said to no one. She didn't even know why she watched this show. Her friends Connie and Heather had been into it in high school so she had watched it occasionally, but now that she was a student at Boston College she couldn't get enough of the hit teen soap. This current season had the female lead caught in a tricky situation with her two child hood best friends, both of whom she was attracted to. Julie related to the situation all too well.

"Hey Cat," Adam said, knocking on the door frame, "what you up to?"

"Joey's worried about Dawson finding out she likes Pacy." She pointed at the TV.

"Jesus, not this again." Adam said, "I thought we were going out, instead we have to listen to the whining."

"No we're going out." She said standing up. "Alright let's go."

"Hold on, who's that?" Adam said pointing at the TV.

"That's Pacy." She said confused, "Come on!"

"He looks really familiar." Adam said cocking his head to the side.

"Come on!" she said shutting off the TV and pulling him out the door. "I am getting trashed tonight!"

"No no, I am not taking care of drunk Cat. Once is enough thanks." Adam smiled. She hit him in the shoulder and they got moving.

* * *

Luis Mendoza rubbed his eyes. He was just waking up from a nap; he had a long night ahead of him. He was glad he had decided to take the semester off and play in a minor hockey league in Minnesota. He and Charlie Conway had gotten an apartment together, neither had the grades to get into college so after high school had opted for this. Aside from playing they also worked in the skate shop, which after Hans' death had been taken over by Gordon Bombay 

"I still can't believe you're doing this man." Charlie Conway shook his head, as Luis walked to the kitchen to make some coffee. "Hopping a plane to Boston when you're not even sure she'll talk to you."

"I gotta try." Luis shrugged, "Man, she was the only girl I ever really loved. And I blew it, I gotta give it another shot."

"Dude, she's in Boston, and from what Adam has said, she's really happy." Charlie shook his head, "Apparently she's been hanging out with him."

"She won't get back with him" Luis said, "he never made her happy. I did."

"You broke her heart." Charlie reminded him, "He didn't. And don't rule Banks out. He's always had a crush on her."

"Eh, the cake eater's too timid to make a move." Luis shook his head and picked up his bag and walked over to the door. "Well, I'll either see you tomorrow or not."

"Good luck." Charlie shouted after him. "Man, he's gonna get eaten alive."

* * *

Julie and Adam walked into an off campus house where a few of the senior hockey players lived, including Julie's ex boyfriend Scooter Vanderbilt. Scooter was the one who had invited the two friends to this party. As she looked around Julie was relieved that she had decided to come. 

"Banks! Jules!" Scooter shouted from across the room. "Hey!" the two freshmen hurried over. "Glad you could make it. Guys get over here! I would like to introduce you to two of the best freshmen we managed to wrangle in for this season's hockey team, Adam Banks and Julie Gaffney. Julie here will be replacing me after my imminent graduation!" Julie smiled, same old Scooter, she was always happy to see him especially since her first week at BC when he had sought her out to tell her that he wanted to be friends. He was such at great guy; it had practically killed her to break up with him. But he had understood, they didn't love each other and at that point had half a country between them. Also Luis Mendoza had fallen for her and she had chosen him, a decision she often found herself regretting. "So, Julie the Cat, you want a drink, or are you too afraid that you'll throw yourself at Banksie here?" Julie blushed Scooter was referencing the night she had drunkenly told Adam she loved him.

"I'll take one, but I expect you to keep an eye on me." She laughed taking a beer from his hand. "I need to stay in control."

"You got it! Banksie?" Scooter said holding up an empty cup in one hand and the tap of the keg in the other.

"Yeah, sure." Adam shrugged.

"Excellent, enjoy the party!" Scooter smiled. She liked his smile. The two walked off to find some of the other freshmen who had promised to be attending the festivities.

Around two in the morning as Julie and Adam stumbled giggling back to the dorm.

"That was a killer game of flip cup!" Adam smiled.

"We kicked Scooter and them's asses!" Julie laughed.

"That was horrible grammar!" Adam stopped, "aren't you an English major?"

"Shhh, no!" They continued the laugh until they reached the building when Julie stopped suddenly. "Luis?"

"Julie!" He said, "Thank God! I was afraid that I wouldn't find you."

"I'm not talking to you," she said quickly, "or don't you remember. Adam I'm going up. Remind him why I'm not talking to him." She stuck her key in the door and walked up the stairs indignantly.

"Come on man." Adam said, picking up Luis' bag. "You can stay in my room. Maybe she'll talk to you in the morning."

Luis sighed, there was going to be no living with Charlie after this.

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**Alright! Review please and enjoy!**


	2. The Conversation

**Author's Note: Alright, so I got two chapters done today, I'm very proud of myself. Charlie is turning out to be a much more major character than I expected. Anyway, the one review I got was great, thanks a bunch!**

**Summary: Julie and her room mate talke about what's going on, and then she finally talks to Luis. Charlie and Bombay disapprove of what's going on. Adam explains why he won't make his move on Julie.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the Ducks. I own Jen. This is not another Creek allusion. This is because my room mate's name is Jen and I was looking at her when I had to pick a name.

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Chapter 2: The Talk **

The next morning Julie woke up in a bad mood. She wasn't hung over or anything just cranky. Her room mate Jen looked at her as she dragged herself out of bed.

"Good morning!" Jen said perkily. Julie grunted in return. "My, we're cranky. Wasn't the party fun?"

"The party was great it was after that wasn't so great." Julie sighed pulling a pair of jeans out her closet.

"Oh my god! Adam finally made a move? Or you did and he rejected you?" Jen said eagerly, she had sensed since they first came to Boston that there was something going on with Julie and Adam. "No, Scooter said something?"

"None of those." Julie shook her head. "Luis is here."

"Like in Boston? Or here here?" Jen asked, Julie had explained the whole situation to her.

"Here here, probably in Adam's room." Julie shook her head.

"Maybe you should talk to him." Jen said, "As an outside observer Jules, I understand he broke your heart, but maybe you should here what he has to say."

"He lied to me." Julie shook her head, "And then cheated on me. I love him, part of me always will, but he doesn't get it. I can't let him back into my life. What if he hurts me again?"

"What if Scooter hadn't let you back into his life?" Jen said, wisely, "Think about that. You hurt him, but he let you back in, and now you two are the best of friends."

"I just don't know. Luis didn't just hurt me, he hurt the team. The only people who trusted him after that were Charlie and Bombay." She sighed, "it makes it hard. I don't know what to do."

"Well, I have class," Jen said, "Tell me how this little drama works out." She walked towards the door. As she opened it she saw Adam and a good looking guy who she had to assume was Luis. "Hey Adam."

"Hey Jen," he said, "Is she here?" Jen nodded and pointed to the half dressed Julie sitting on her bed. "Oh, this is Luis."

"Yeah I figured," Jen said, glaring at him. "Nice to meet you. I've gotta go, see you later."

"Yeah, I have class too," Adam said, "I'll leave you two." He said quietly slinking out of the room. He hated the idea of leaving her, but he knew he had to.

"Hey." She mumbled. "Look, I'll hear you out, but that's it. If I don't like what I hear, you head back to Minnesota and it's over right?"

"Fine." He said quietly. "I've wanted to explain it to you, but over the summer you wouldn't take my calls, and before that you wouldn't even look at me."

"Well, here's your chance," she said trying not to lose her temper, "Explain please. Who exactly was she?"

"I met her that summer, you know, the one where you were clearing your head?" He started. Julie nodded. "I was drunk when we first got together. She looked a little like you, I was lonely. Then we sort of stuck together for the whole summer. When I went back to Miami for Christmas, after we had gotten together she called me. I told her I didn't want to see her, that I had a girlfriend. At first she said that it was fine. But then there was this party, and we were both drunk, and well, you know the rest."

"I walked in on you." Julie sighed, "And this is the first non team related conversation we've had since that night."

"Right." Luis sighed.

"The cheating was bad enough, but you lied." Julie reminded him. "When I asked you if you had been with any one over the summer you said no. You should have told me the truth."

"I know I should have. Julie believe me I've been thinking about this a lot. I lost you; I lost all of my friends." He shook his head. "Do you know how hard it was to live with Portman for the rest of the year after I screwed up the team? I mean, even now, living with Charlie, who claims to have forgiven me, but still isn't entirely trusting. I ran into Connie last week, she wouldn't even look at me, let alone talk to me. Forget Goldberg, I've stopped going to the Deli it got so bad. I still love you, more than any one or any thing."

"I love you too." Julie sighed, "I always will, but you need to go."

"Julie," he pleaded.

"Just go? Please." She whispered holding back tears.

* * *

Charlie walked into the skate shop that same morning. He hadn't heard from Luis which he figured could mean a few things. He was wandering around Boston College's campus asking if anyone knew Julie Gaffney, he had found her and she had killed him, or he had found her and things went very well. He shrugged it off. 

"Good morning Charlie." Gordon Bombay sat stood behind the counter of the shop surrounded by newspaper clippings of area hockey games, amateur and professional. At the center was an old article about "The Minnesota Miracle" the Ducks' pee wee championship win over the Hawks almost eight years before.

"Morning Coach." Charlie smiled. Despite the fact that Bombay hadn't been his coach in almost five years Charlie kept calling him by the title. He couldn't help it, just like the Ducks still called him "Captain" even though the team officially split almost six months earlier.

"Where's Luis?" Bombay asked.

"Um, well, he went away for a while." Charlie said trying to cover as best he could.

"What, to Miami?" Bombay said concerned, "Is it his mom, is she alright?"

"No, not to Miami, he actually," Charlie didn't want to rat his friend out but he couldn't bring himself to lie to Bombay. "He went to Boston."

"I hope to see Adam and Scooter play." Bombay said concerned.

"You know that's not the reason." Charlie said.

"Did Julie know he was coming?" When Coach asked him these kinds of questions Charlie felt like he was ten years old again. "Or did he at least tell Adam?"

"Neither of them knew. He realized he had enough for the ticket and went out." Charlie sighed, "He would have told Julie if he could but you know she just hangs up when he calls her."

"That girl's been through enough." Gordon sighed. "I care about Luis, but I think it would be better if he let her go."

"That what I tried to tell him." Charlie agreed wholeheartedly. He hated what was happening, he didn't want to see Luis waste his life running after Julie, and he didn't want to see Julie get her heart broken again. It had been hard enough to watch the first time.

* * *

"Hey." Jen said catching up with Adam. "What do you think is going to happen?" 

"I don't have the slightest clue." He shrugged. "I don't think they should get back together if that's what you mean, but that's not my call."

"You should just ask her out already." Jen said. "She does like you Adam."

"No," Adam shook his head, "She may like me, but she's still in love with Luis. Believe it or not Jen, he's a really great guy. He's a freaking amazing hockey player and fun to be around. He's just not very restrained. He's passionate; he feels something he does it, that's just how he is."

"She could love you Adam." Jen smiled, "But you have to give her a chance."

"Yeah," he sighed, "I think I missed that boat sometime between when we were thirteen and last year."

"Don't be stupid," Jen said rolling her eyes. "Give it a shot. What could it possibly hurt?"

"The Ducks." Adam whispered. Jen looked confused "If we were to get together and it not work out it would divide the Ducks further. Especially since we're not on the same teams any more, when Luis and Julie broke up even when we were on the same team we lost something. Ducks fly together, that's what we always say. God, I wish Charlie was here, he could explain it better than I can."

Jen smiled. "No I get it. But you can't let that stop you Adam. You have to grow up, you have to live."

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**Review Please! Thanks!**


	3. What now?

**A/N: Alright so the story is moving along nicely. I hope every one is enjoying it! There's another in joke in this chapter, sort of like the Creek one only much more subtle! First one to pick up on it and leave it in a review gets a shout out in the next author's note!**

**Summary: Julie and Luis say good bye, and Julie vents her confusion to Jen, and then has a serious talk with Adam. Meanwhile, back in Minneapolis, Luis reunites with the friends who left him behind.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mighty Ducks. I do own Jen. Poor Jen, who is stuck being the therapist listening to Julie and Adam's slashy duck angst.**

**

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Chapter 3: What now? **

Luis sighed as he saw a taxi pull up to take him to the airport. He had booked a flight back to Minnesota. He had gotten the result he wanted out of the trip, but after their initial talk he went back once and Julie agreed that she would stop hanging up on him if he called her. She said she was willing to make the effort to be friends again. She had called him the cab though; she definitely didn't want him to stay in Boston. And although friendship wasn't exactly what Luis had in mind, it was better than nothing. They both stood up and she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Call me when you back ok?" Julie said. "And give Charlie and Bombay my love!"

"I will." Luis smiled at her. "Bye Julie. See you at New Years?" He asked, referring to the planned Duck reunion in Minnesota for New Years Eve.

"Definitely, Bye!" She crossed her arms across her chest as she watched the cab drive away. She walked into the dorm room and fell onto her bed.

"Everything good?" Jen asked.

"No." Julie said. "This is why I knew I couldn't talk to him until I knew I was over him. I'm more confused about him now then I've ever been. Even right after junior prom."

"What's confusing about it?" Jen said. "You still love him?"

"Yes." Julie nodded. "I still love him, but also, well, things here were so good. With Adam I mean, and Scooter."

"Well, you sent him back to Minnesota, that's good." Jen said. "Did you tell him not to call you?"

"No, actually I told him to call me. I figured we could talk about things." She shook her head. "AHH!" She shouted pushing a pillow over her face. "I hate that he does this to me."

* * *

After the long flight Luis hopped on a bus that took him to a stop a few blocks from the skate shop. He had called Charlie from the Airport and asked him to pick him up. 

"Strike out?" Charlie smiled smugly. Luis shook his no.

"Nah, it was more like a pop up caught in the outfield." Luis said.

"Dude, how much you know about baseball always astounds me." Charlie laughed.

"Well, I was the best baseball player in the neighborhood!" Luis said proudly

"What?" Charlie said confused.

"Nothing," Luis quickly spit out.

"So she talked to you then?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Luis said dejected. "She wants to be friends. She told me to call her, and that we'd see each other at the New Years party."

"So you're going to come now?" Charlie smiled, before his talk with Julie Luis had refused to come to the reunion.

"Yeah," Luis said. "I figure if Julie's talking to me the others will have no reason not to. So what does coach have for us to do tonight?"

"Nothing. We have the night off." Charlie shrugged.

"Great so, what's going on?" Luis said.

"Well," Charlie said. "Portman's in town. So, everyone who's still in Minneapolis, meaning you me, Fulton, Goldberg and Guy are getting together."

"A night out with the Ducks?" He laughed. "Sounds good to me!?" He had never been happier to be hanging out with the Ducks again.

* * *

"Hey Julie." Adam wandered into their room while Julie lay in a fetal position in her bed. "Did Luis go?" 

"Yeah, he'll be back in Minneapolis by now." She sighed.

"Scooter and the guys are having another party." Adam said sitting at the foot of her bead. "Do you want to go?"

"No." Julie said. "I'm not in a partying mood. You go."

"Nah," he said "I wouldn't want to go without you. Let's stay here and watch a movie or something."

"Adam, can I ask you something?" Julie said sitting up.

"Anything." He smiled. "You know that."

"We've been friends since we were thirteen, and well, we've been together almost every day since we came to Boston, and," she took a deep breath. "Well, Adam, have you ever thought that maybe, we could be, well, more than just friends? Because well, I'm starting to think we maybe could."

* * *

"Tell me Luis?" Portman said, as they sat on the couch in Charlie and Luis' apartment, "What exactly prevented me from kicking you ass last year?" Luis, Charlie, Fulton, Goldberg and Guy all laughed as Charlie brought some beers over from the fridge. 

"Man, to be honest, I'm not really sure." Luis said. At the time of Luis' infidelity Portman had been dating Julie's room mate Heather. Luis could never fully shake the thought that Portman's insistent silent treatment was less about how Portman felt towards Julie and more about Heather's intense hatred of the boy who broke her best friend's heart. It was the same with Guy, who had been equally cold to Luis, but he always had the sneaking suspicion that this came more from Connie than from Guy. "I'm pretty sure I deserved it!"

"Well," Fulton said. "I propose a toast. To Luis, welcome back to the team, man!"

"To Luis!" The guys said shouting and clinked their bottles together.

"Thanks guys." Luis laughed. "It's good to be back."

* * *

**A/N: As always I leave you with the request for reviews.**


	4. Future on the Horizon

**A/N: Wow guys I'm disappointed in you guys not picking up on the joke...BTW it was the Luis baseball thing. Anyway, once again, thanks for the reviews. I'm writing this faster than I've ever written anything in my life, I think it's because I've been getting so many reviews on it, so yeah, keep those up! But I may not get around to updating this week because I have finals. Oh, and I will now be fitting this story into continuity with my other Ducks story "I know how you feel." Sorry, I felt the need to do this because I've been kinda into comics and Kevin Smith lately, where everything connects to everything else. This was a long note. I'm sorry.**

**Summary: Jen makes a discovery. Luis and Julie have some flashbacks, and Charlie meets, well, you'll see.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

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**

Chapter 4: Future on the Horizon

Jen walked through the door of the room only half paying attention; she had spent the night in the library trying to finish a group project. She started frantically looking through the papers on her desk for her assignments.

"Julie, did you see where I put my history paper?" She asked and then looked over at the bed to see Julie lying sleeping under the covers. But she wasn't alone. "Oh my god! Finally!" Jen shouted.

"Jen!" Julie said, rustling the blankets, and elbowing Adam to wake him up. "I um, I didn't hear you come in."

"Ow, no he just hit the pad!" Adam said waking up. "Jen," he said coming to, "uh hi. I better go. See you later Julie." He kissed her as he got out of bed.

"Bye." She whispered.

"Bye Adam." Jen said smiling. She squealed and dropped herself on Julie's bed. "Oh my God! Tell me everything! What happened? Who made the first move, you or him? Come on, I want all of the dirty details!"

"First of all," Julie started. "Very little happened. We kissed a little bit, we snuggled, we watched a movie and then he fell asleep. That's all."

"Well, that figures." Jen said disappointed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Julie said mock offended.

"Please! It took you two five years to kiss each other! I shouldn't have expected you to have had sex!" Jen laughed. "Anyway, who made the first move?"

"It just sort of happened." Julie shrugged getting out of bed. "I mean, I guess I did. I mean, I just sort of asked him if we were ever going to be more than friends, and then he kissed me."

"What was it like?" Jen asked. "I mean, you've only kissed two other guys right?"

"Three." Julie corrected her. "And it was nice. I don't know." She couldn't really explain what she was feeling. "It was weird you know? I mean it's Adam, you know? He's my best friend, besides Connie I mean and well, it's just very weird."

"Three?" Jen asked, "Scooter, Luis, who's the third?"

"Wow, you have major attention issues." Julie rolled her eyes. "The third was Dean Portman, well, actually he was the first. We were thirteen, it was a stupid little crush, can we move on?"

"Ok, look," Jen said, "That boy is crazy about you and I know you say differently, but I'm pretty sure you like him too. So stop over analyzing and let yourself be happy about it."

"I am happy," Julie said, "I just don't know what I'm going to tell Luis."

* * *

"Hey Coach." Luis and Charlie said in unison walking into the shop, they were moving slowly, it had been kind of a wild night.

"Hey guys," Bombay looked them over. "Wow, you two look like you've been through the mill. What did you do last night?"

"Portman's in town." Charlie said.

"Ah," Bombay laughed, "No further explanation needed. So Luis, how was Boston."

"Dude, you told him?" Luis said, hitting Charlie on the shoulder.

"Man, he asked me directly!" Charlie said. "You know I can't lie to Coach!"

"Look, Luis," Bombay started, "I know you think that you and Julie belong together, but, maybe it's better that you lay off? Like, when Casey and I…"

"Coach!" Luis said cutting him off. "No offense or anything, but well, I'm really not in the mood for one of your little life experience talks."

"Fair enough." Bombay said. "Well, there's a whole pile of skates back there," he said tossing Luis a pair of protective goggles. "Get to work." Luis laughed and headed back to the sharpening room. Charlie and Bombay sat behind the counter as a pair of ten year old kids walked into the store.

"Would you look at all of this stuff?" One of them said.

"I know!" The other said, equally awed. "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could get some of this stuff for the team?" Charlie smiled and looked at Bombay. Bombay simply nodded.

"Hey guys!" Charlie said, walking out from behind the counter. "How can I help you?"

Luis stood sharpening skates and looked out onto the pond, which wasn't frozen yet, unfortunately. He felt the need to do sprints. It always helped him to clear his head. He had been doing sprints the first time he realized that he cared about Julie as more than a friend. Unfortunately he couldn't just leave work to go to the rink and sprint. If the pond were frozen though...

"Hey! Luis!" Charlie said, popping in. "Come out here, I want you to meet some people."

* * *

Julie walked from her last class of the day to her dorm room. She was still terribly confused when she realized there was only one thing that could clear her mind. She rushed up to the room, picked up her roller blades and helmet and raced outside. She pulled the skates on tightened the straps and pulled the helmet on over her hair. She started gliding down the paved path in front of the dorm. This was exactly what she needed. She began to simply let the thoughts stream through her head. She remembered the first time she met Luis, the first time she met Adam. She thought about the night of junior prom, how Luis had kissed her on the dance floor, and then how when she had gotten so drunk she could barely stand up Adam had made sure she made it back to her room and then sat with her all night. She remembered how she felt when she broke up with Scooter and told Luis to wait. She remembered how much fun she had had over that summer, spending time with her old friends from her pre Duck days. But she also remembered how the only Duck that she had talked to that summer was Adam. She remember how happy she had been when both she and Adam got into BC, both with hockey scholarships. Suddenly she realized what it was she had to do. She turned around and skated back towards the dorm.

* * *

**A/N: Woo, cliff hangers are fun aren't they!**


	5. Reckoning

**Summary: This one really doesn't need it, but basically Julie makes her decision and Charlie decides that he and Luis need new jobs.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.

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Chapter 5: Reckoning**

"Luis," Charlie said guiding him to the front of the store. "I want you to meet, Jim and Darryl."

"Hi," Luis said skeptically. Kids came into the shop all the time, he didn't know what made these two special.

"Jim and Darryl play on the current district five team," Bombay explained, "A team that is currently without a coach, or a name or proper equipment."

"I think I've heard this story." Luis said laughing. "So, some poor schlub of a lawyer is going to coach them and teach them to believe in themselves while they teach him to love life?"

"That poor schlub of a lawyer is currently your employer and just secured you a second job for the winter." Bombay said. "Boys, meet your other new coach, Coach Mendoza." Luis just stood dumbfounded, then he moved his head to the side.

"Charlie, uh can I talk to you in back please?" Luis said.

"Yeah, sure." Charlie followed him into the sharpening room.

"Are you insane?" Luis said, "So, we're going to play on a team, work the store and coach a pee wee team? That's not possible!"

"Dude, it's not like we don't need the money, and think about it," Charlie was practically giddy, "We'd get to bring the ducks to a whole new generation! How awesome is that?"

"Charlie," Luis said, "I wasn't even on District 5, I have no ties to it. Also, I don't know where I'll be this winter. I might be in Boston."

"Since when are you moving to Boston?" Charlie asked. "Did Julie ask you to move to Boston?"

"No, but she didn't have to," Luis said, "I know her. I know how her mind works."

"Didn't she actually put you in a cab to send you back here?" Charlie reminded him.

"Look, I just don't want to do it ok?" Luis shouted back. "Ask Fulton."

"Fulton can't teach them to skate Luis!" Charlie pointed out. "He can barely skate himself."

"Then, Guy or Goldberg." Luis said, "I don't want to do it man, that's it."

"You can't put your whole life on hold for her man." Charlie said. "Especially when you don't even know how she feels about it. Did Julie say anything to you about wanting to get back together?"

"No, not directly but…" Luis said sheepishly.

"Then let it go man." Charlie said, "Come on, do this with me." Luis sighed.

* * *

Julie rushed up the stairs of the dorm building. She stopped at the floor just below her, Adam's floor. She rushed over to his door and knocked on it. Adam answered the door.

"Julie, hey." He said with a smile on his face.

"Hi, can I come in?" She said.

"Yeah," sure he said and moved out of the way.

"Ok," she took a deep breath. "I'm going to say something, and I don't want you to talk, just listen. Does that work for you?" She looked at him and he nodded. "Alright so I went for a skate, and while I was skating I started thinking about things. You know me, you, Luis and how this whole crazy thing was going to work itself out. Because I love you, Adam, I really do! I mean you're my best friend, and you've always been there for me. And these past couple of months have been awesome, I love spending time with you. And last night, last night was amazing. I mean really great, I have never been that comfortable in that kind of situation with a guy. Even when I slept with Luis, and that brings me to Luis." She sighed and took another deep breath. "I still love him, Adam, and I know I kind of always will, and if we're going to go any further with this, I need to know that you're OK with that. Like actually OK with it. That you won't freak if I stay up all night on the phone with him, that you understand I would never ever want to be with him again, but he's a part of me, but it has nothing to do with how I feel about you. It should have been you all along. Even when it was Scooter, it should have been you. I know that now, and I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it." She stopped and looked at him. "OK, you can talk now."

"I love you too Cat." He said, standing up and kissing her. "And I understand everything you said. Julie, I don't care about Luis, or how you feel about him or what happened with you two. It doesn't matter to me at all. And I'm not just saying that."

"Really?" She smiled.

"Really." He laughed.

"Thanks." She couldn't stop grinning at him. Suddenly Jen popped into the door.

"I figured I'd find you here." She said, "Jules, the phone upstairs is for you."

"Tell my mom I'll call her later." Julie said. She was looking forward to relating the past few days' events to her mom, who had always loved Adam.

"It's not your mom." Jen said, shaking her head.

"Well, who is it?" Julie said sighing.

"Wanna guess?" Jen said, shaking her head.

"Oh," Julie said quickly. "Alright, I guess I'll…"

"Yeah," Adam said, "You better go. I'll come see you later."

"Bye," she said kissing him, and then she walked up the stairs. She still wasn't sure what she was going to say.

* * *

**A/N: Review please please please!**


	6. Hello?

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry about the delay, as always, my peice of crap computer had yet again died on me (this time I didn't lose my files thank god!) but its back now! Hope everyone had a great Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza whatever you celebrate, and a kickin New Year (mine was pretty sweet, I can tell you that!) And we're back!**

**Summary: Julie and Luis talk on the phone.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Ducks. Enjoy the story.**

**

* * *

Chapter 6: Hello? **

Julie walked into the room and saw the phone sitting off the hook. She picked up the receiver and took a big breath.

"Hi." She said. What was she going to say?

"Hey." She heard Luis' voice on the other end. He sounded happy, she couldn't decide if that was good or bad.

"What's up?" She said, trying to sound casual.

"A lot actually," he laughed. "Charlie and I are thinking about coaching the D5 team."

"Really?" She said. "That's, um that's great."

"Yeah," he said, and took a deep breath. "That's not what I called to talk to you about."

"I figured." Julie said.

"I need to know what's going on with us." Luis said.

"What do you mean?" Julie said.

"I mean, should I keep hope going here." He said, "I can't put my life on hold much more."

"I didn't ask you to put your life on hold." Julie reminded him.

"I know, but…" She interrupted him.

"Did I give you any indication that I wanted to ever get back together?"

"Well, no, but I thought, that…"

"No, Luis, that's it." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. That wasn't fair of me. But Luis, I can't be with you."

"You could give me another chance." Luis said. "You know, forgiveness and all that shit?"

"No, no I can't be with you because," this was too hard, she didn't know how to tell him. "Because I'm going to be with Adam." She just said it.

Luis stood dumbfounded in the kitchen of the apartment. "What?"

"You heard me." She whispered.

"Since when?" Luis asked. He was pissed. "I mean two days ago…"

"Two days ago I was confused!" Julie said, "I've been thinking about getting together with him since we came to Boston to be perfectly honest. It would have happened eventually and then you came and it threw a wrench into all of it. Luis, I love you, I do, I always will, but I have to try this."

"How many things do you have to try Julie?" Luis said. "You had to try being alone, you have to try this, was that all we were, an experience for you to try?"

"No!" She said. "What we had was amazing, and so special, but well,"

"Well what?" he said angrily, "What we had was amazing and special and it could be again but you're going to be with someone else instead?"

"That's not fair!" Julie started crying. "That's not fair and you know it's not fair! I deserve to be happy! And when I'm with him I'm happy!"

"You were happy with me, remember that?" Luis said. "We were really happy."

"Yeah, we were great until you broke my heart!" Julie spat back at him. Suddenly he stopped. "Or were you just leaving that little variable out of our relationship? Luis, no matter how much I still love you, I can't trust you."

"It wouldn't happen again." He said. "I wouldn't let it."

"Luis, we're half a country away from each other and you have a history of cheating on me." She sighed. "I did the long distance thing once, or did you forget that too? I don't ever want to do it again. Adam is here, he cares about me, I trust him, I love him. It has nothing to do with you, or us. It's about me and him. I'm going to do this. I want to know that you're going to be OK though."

"Will it make a difference?" Luis asked, "Really? I mean if you've already decided about Adam, will it make a difference what I feel about it?"

"It will." Julie said. "Luis, if you're alright with it, if I get your blessing then, then I know that…"

"That the Ducks won't hate you for it." Luis finished her sentence for her, resentment laying heavinly in his voice.

"Right." She sighed. "I know, I know this is hard. It's not easy for me. This was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I love him. There's nothing else to it."

"Yeah." He said. "I know that feeling."

"I'm so sorry." Julie said. "I want to be your friend. I really do."

"I can't just be your friend Julie." Luis said. "I'm sorry I just can't. I won't call you again. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused for you and Adam."

"Luis, wait!" She said, but he had already hung up the phone. She sighed and walked out of the room and down the stairs to Adam's. She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were red and her nose was sniffling.

"How'd it go?" Adam said, smiling. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him and started crying again.

"I should go." Jen said, standing up.

"No," Julie shook her head, "Stay, it'll save me having to tell the story twice."

* * *

Luis threw the phone against the wall of the apartment. He had never been so angry in his life. He couldn't beleive what was going on, it was bad enough that she didn't want to be with him.

"What's that noise?" Fulton said, he was sitting in the living room playing Playstation with Charlie.

"Luis was on the phone with Julie," Charlie shrugged. "She probably didn't say what he wanted to hear."

"Should we check on him?" Fulton said, pausing the game.

"I guess so." Charlie said, they stood up and walked in and saw Luis sitting on his bed, mumbling angrily, his head in his hands. "How'd it go man?"

"Banks!" He shouted looking up, "When he comes back I'm going to kill him."

"What?" Fulton said, "Why?"

"Luis, what are you talking about?" Charlie said.

"She made her decision, Charlie," Luis said, "there was never a chance of anything. She's with Banks."

"The Cake Eater?" Fulton said. "You can't be serious!"

"He's liked her since LA," Charlie said quietly, "But there was always something in the way."

"Yeah well, the ways clear now, I guess." Luis said, "So much for flying together."

* * *

**A/N: Kinda an emo chapter, but its no where near as emo as the choices chapter of the last one. Anyway, review as always!**


	7. Growing Up is Hard to do

**Author's Note: See, what did I tell you? Back with a vengance, oh also I forgot my promise, Liz, way to pick up on the Sandlot reference!**

**Oh, and it's not just you Donna, I haven't gotten any alert emails either...its a little annoying.**

**Summary: Julie talks to Charlie and decides to live her life. Luis gets a little into this whole coaching thing**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

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Chapter 7: Growing up is hard to do**

Over the next few days Julie made a lot of attempts to call Luis. But each time he usually just hung up on her. Now she finally understood what he must have felt like, each time he hung up it cut deeper and deeper into her. Adam had been by her side for every phone call, and had even tried a few times to call himself. Finally two days later Luis didn't pick up the phone, but Charlie.

"Hello." Julie smiled, maybe now she could get some answers. Adam gestured towards the door and Julie shook her head.

"Hi Charlie." She said, taking a deep breath. "Is he there?"

"No, he's at the shop." Charlie said quietly. "He wouldn't talk to you anyway, you know that."

"I figured once he cooled off a little," she said, "but I should know better. We're too alike that way."

"Which is the problem." Charlie laughed. "He's hurt Jules, same as you were."

"This is different." She said. "We're not together any more, we're not planning on being together, its different."

"Not to him, it's the same." Charlie explained. "You betrayed him, at least in his eyes, both you and Adam."

"But we," she started but he cut her off.

"Julie, don't worry about it. I saw it coming, I warned him. Have you talked to anyone else about it?" He reassured her.

"What do you mean you saw it coming?" Julie said, as far as she knew this wasn't anything anyone could have seen coming.

"Answer my question first!" Charlie smiled at the other end.

"No, I was going to call Connie but I, well, I…" She couldn't bring herself to say what she felt.

"You don't know how she'll react?" Charlie smiled. "You think she'll flip out, and not want to be your friend any more."

"I know it's not fair to the team." She said. "What we're doing, I know it isn't fair. But it isn't fair to us to not let us try it."

"Julie, he's always felt that way about you," Charlie smiled, "We all knew, at least all of the original Ducks knew. He has since LA. He told you that right?" Julie sat quietly and looked at Adam.

"No," she whispered, "no he didn't." He looked at her curiously.

"That's why we saw it coming," Charlie explained, "Don't let the team stop you from being happy Jules. We're not really a team anymore anyway."

"Don't say that," she said, tears in her eyes, "We'll always be a team."

"Yeah," Charlie sighed, "I guess so. I gotta get to work Jules, call Connie."

"Yeah, thanks, bye Charlie." She whispered. She hung up the phone and looked at Adam. "Why didn't you tell me?" She said quietly.

"Tell you what." He said moving in closer to her.

"That you, I mean, that since we were kids…" she started to cry, and then leaned in and kissed him. Then he understood.

"I didn't think it was important." He sighed, "Besides, there was always something in the way. I mean, back then you only had eyes for Portman." Julie laughed.

"Yeah, don't remind me of that one." She rolled her eyes.

"And then it was Eden Hall, and you were all so mad at me. And then Scooter and Luis, and even after Luis there was the team, I couldn't do it, tear apart everyone after we had already split geographically. Charlie always told me to go for it. He thought it was stupid."

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too, I always have." He said, as they touched foreheads.

"I talked to my mom last night." Julie said, wiping her eyes. "She wants to know if you're committed to Minnesota for Thanksgiving."

"I can't say my dad would mind getting the money back on the plane ticket." He laughed. "And I do have three brothers, so my being in Maine would make them happy. More turkey for them."

"So you'll come?" Julie said, a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah," He said kissing her lightly on the mouth. "Why not? Look I've got a paper due tomorrow, I'll call my parents tomorrow at alert them to the change."

"Good night." Julie smiled and fell back onto the bed. So she hadn't needed Luis' blessing to keep the Ducks at bay after all.

* * *

Charlie took a walk down to the rink where he and Luis would be conducting practice that night. He liked it here; it still made him think of a simpler time, before the Ducks became something resembling a complicated soap opera. A time when he was Spazway, the worst player on the team with the biggest heart, when he saw his Mom finally let her guard down and fall in love, which he always called a warm up for when she met and fell in love with his step father. It was a winter that had changed his life forever, and one that he wouldn't quickly forget.

"Ok, so I got the eggs." Luis said walking over. "What are they for exactly?"

"To teach them to pass of course." Charlie said. "What did you think?"

"Um, that we would teach them to pass with pucks?" Luis said, "That's how I learned."

"Duck hockey Luis," Charlie smiled, "Concentration, not strength."

"Right," Luis laughed, "I'll start collecting soda cans."

Jim, one of the kids they had met in the shop skated up to Charlie and Luis. They had already had a few "diagnostic" practices already as Charlie had called them to see what work needed to be done. Jim's problems were a lot like Charlie's when he was little he just wasn't very good. "Coach Conway, what exactly are we doing today?"

"Today Jim, you are going to learn how to pass with me, and then Coach Mendoza is going to run sprints with you." Charlie smiled Luis' way.

"I'm going to what?" Luis said and then he leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Charlie, some of these kids can barely even stand on skates, they can't keep up with me."

"Good, they'll have something to aspire to." Charlie smiled. "OK team, line up!" He shouted and blew his whistle. He took an egg and held it up. "Soft hands," he began.

After practice a winded Luis sat on the bench and took his skates off. Charlie came over and sat down next to him.

"They have potential." Charlie said. "They aren't playing like Ducks yet but they'll get there."

"Yeah," Luis smiled. "Thanks for talking me into this. It was a good idea."

"So, speaking of good ideas, guess who I talked to right before practice?" Charlie said as they walked towards the door.

"Uh, Rick Reilly?" Luis said, he had heard that the old varsity captain was now coaching the Hawks.

"No, Julie." Charlie said. "She called again."

"Super." Luis said sarcastically. "We're out of milk we should stop by the mini mart on the way home."

"Don't change the subject." Charlie said. "I told her you were mad, that you were hurt. But I also told her that it was ok."

"Traitor." Luis mumbled.

"No, no, I had to." Charlie shook his head. "Listen, this team has fallen apart enough Luis! We don't play together any more, we're scattered all across the country, even those of us that live in the same city barely speak to each other! Julie and Adam were going to be together whether or not we supported them. The team needed it."

"There is no more team Charlie!" Luis shouted at him. "Wake up! The team's over, the Ducks are dead. They died the day we stopped trusting each other. Maybe the new ones will do better than we did."

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**A/N: Enjoy, review, etc...**


	8. And So It Goes

**A/N: Alright, here it is you guys, the end. It's a little bittersweet, I think, but I think it works. Thanks for the faithful reading and reviewing, and keep reading my stuff. I have an awesome idea for my next fic, which will actually probably be nothing about Julie (I know it's a shock, absorb!). **

**Summary: Adam deals with being at home and Julie deals with her real feelings, with the help from an old friend...Luis kinda loses it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Ducks, I still own Heather...that's right, Heather makes her triumphant slightly slutty but still endearing return in this chapter! Oh, and the Creek returns, if only for a moment to close it out.

* * *

Chapter 8: And so it goes... **

"My flight gets in at 4 on the 27th!" Julie said over the phone. "Which is still a week away which totally sucks."

"I agree it does suck." Adam laughed on the other end. They hadn't seen each other in nearly two weeks, the longest separation they'd had since they got together.

"I miss you!" She sighed and plopped in a chair.

"I miss you too babe, but we have to deal for another week, and don't ruin Christmas for yourself." Adam smiled. "And don't call me tonight!"

"Why not?" Julie said, hurt that he didn't want to talk to her.

"Relax Cat!" He laughed, he could picture her pouting on the other end. "The new Ducks are playing the Hawks tonight. Charlie asked me to go."

"Ohh!" Julie sighed. "I want to watch new Ducks play!" Suddenly she came to a realization. "Will this be the first time that…"

"Yeah," Adam said knowing exactly what she was going to say. "I mean, I've seen the others, well, a few of the others, but this'll be the first time I see him."

"Do you know what will happen?" Julie said, not that she really feared for Adam's safety, but she hated the idea of the guys fighting.

"Well, Charlie said he's still pretty pissed off about it." Adam said. "But that he probably won't say or do anything. He mostly keeps to himself, I mean we've all gone out a bunch of times, but he never comes. Fulton said its normal that he never comes."

"I hate that." Julie said. "I hate that he isn't friends with them any more."

"I know, but it has nothing to do with you." Adam reassured her.

"No it has everything to do with me." Julie sighed. "When we broke up he stopped talking to them and now…"

"It was the other way around." Adam said quietly.

"What?" Julie asked.

"When you two broke up, we stopped talking to him." Adam said. "Look, I have to go, Jesse and I are meeting up before the game."

"Right, tell everyone I said hi." Julie said, she knew he was mad, he didn't like it when she talked about Luis, but some times she just couldn't help it.

"Right, bye."

"Bye." She hung up the phone. "Why am I such an idiot?" She said walking into the living room where Heather was sitting with a bowl of popcorn, watching TV. Heather was from Massachusetts, but her parents had opted to spend the Holidays in Europe. Heather's need to work and make more money had forced her to spend Christmas with the Gaffneys.

"You're not an idiot, you're just still in love with you ex boyfriend." Heather said matter of factly. "Something that sort of miffs your current one."

"I am not still in love with Luis." Julie said sitting down next to her friend.

"Oh OK, right." Heather laughed, "Look, if you're over Luis, then I was actually a virgin the first time I slept with Dean."

"Ew!" Julie said, "TMI!"

"Yeah, cause you're so pure." Heather laughed. "It's fine that you still love him, Julie, Adam doesn't care, he loves you anyway, just be sensitive to him."

"I hate this situation." Julie sighed.

"Yeah, yeah," Heather said. "Now shut up! I think Pacey might punch Dawson!"

* * *

Adam sat in the stands with Jesse, Fulton and Guy watching the new Ducks play. The kids were good, there was no question of that, he knew Luis knew they were there, because Charlie had waved to them and they had been quacking rather obnoxiously the whole night. After the game they all headed back to Charlie and Luis' apartment. The team had won, by one goal in a shoot out, Charlie's protégé Jim had scored the winning goal. It was classic Duck action. On the whole bus ride Luis wouldn't even look at Adam. Once they got back to the apartment Luis just walked into his room and slammed the door. 

"God this whole situation sucks." Adam said, sitting down on the couch.

"Chill out Cake eater." Jesse said. "He's just mad. He'll get over it."

"Right." Adam said taking a beer from the middle of the table where Charlie had placed them. Suddenly, Luis burst out of his room.

"Have you slept with her?" He said walking over. Adam stood up.

"What?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You heard me." Luis said, his face full of rage.

"Come on Luis, man stop it." Charlie said. "This isn't going to end well."

"Shut up Charlie!" Luis said. "Stay out of it, this is between me and Banks."

"What do you want me to say Luis?" Adam sighed. "What?" Luis stepped at him and threw a punch. Adam dodged it. Charlie stood up and pulled him back to his room and then shut the door.

"Are you out of your mind!" Charlie said. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking, I just," Luis said trying to find the words. "I starting thinking about them together, and I got mad. I came out and then, well, you know what happened next."

"Yeah, well, control yourself." Charlie said. "Look I know you fly down to Miami tomorrow, but I swear to God man, if when you get back you're still like this…"

"What Charlie?" Luis said, "You'll kick me out? Of the apartment that we pay equal rent for?"

"No," Charlie shook his head, "look man, its weird for all of us, OK. But we have to deal, you have to deal. If she knew about this it would kill her."

"She doesn't care what I think." Luis said.

"Don't kid yourself man." Charlie said. "She cares way more than she should."

* * *

"Shit." Adam said, his head in his hands on the couch. "Shit shit shit!" 

"Adam, don't worry about it." Guy said sitting down. "It's good, it's out there now."

"This isn't good." Adam shook his head. "Guy, come on, you and Connie have split up right."

"Yeah," Guy said sheepishly, looking at his feet. "I don't like to dwell on it."

"What if the next guy she was with was Jesse, or Portman, or well, any one of us." Adam tried to explain.

"I'd want to kill which ever one of you I guess." Guy said, "Yeah, now I get it."

"Look, Charlie'll calm him down." Fulton said. "And we'll all have a great time on New Years."

"Yeah," Jesse agreed.

* * *

A week later, Adam waited outside of the airport standing by his car. He had told Julie about the night of the game and ever since then she had sort of kept verbal distance in their phone conversations. But she always ended them in her standard, "I love you so much." As she walked out of the airport with her luggage she ran to him and gave him a huge hug and a kiss. Adam was surprised at the warmth of her greeting. 

"Hey." He smiled as she finally pulled away.

"Hey." She said.

"Let's get your bags." He said, picking up her suit case and putting it in the trunk. As they drove towards Adam's house they were both quiet as the radio softly played in the background. Julie finally broke the silence.

"I've been thinking a lot for the past week." Julie sighed. "About that night. I've been keeping something from you."

"Yeah," Adam said quietly, "I sensed that."

"He called me that night." She said. "He was crying. We talked all night. About everything. About me and him, and me and you, and the whole thing. There were a lot of tears."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Adam asked, he was a little angry but hardly enraged.

"Because I was confused." She said. "I'm not now. I want to be with you, Adam, heart and soul, just you. He doesn't matter any more, at all, I don't care what he thinks."

"You don't have to…" Adam started.

"I'm not just saying it this time," Julie smiled. "I'm over him. It was a great thing in my life, what Luis and I had, but it wasn't the defining thing, that's what we're going to be."

"You feel that way?" Adam said, smiling.

"I do." She whispered. As they pulled up to the house, she saw all of the Ducks sitting outside, including Luis.

"I know you hate being the last to get here," Adam laughed as she gasped. "But everyone else got in by yesterday."

"Oh my God!" Julie smiled wide. "Adam, it's everyone!" They got out of the car and held hands as they walked up to their friends. She looked up and saw a smile across Luis's face.

"Hey Cat." He said looking at her.

"Hey." She said back and they hugged.

"Welcome back to the team." He whispered in her ear.

"You too." She smiled and pulled away.

"Come on Ducks, let's get the lady unpacked!" Charlie shouted and they all ran towards the car. In the rush she and Adam shared a quick kiss. Finally the Ducks were back, and finally things were the way they were supposed to be.

"It's a good team." Luis said walking over and nudging her.

"Yeah," She smiled at him. "It is isn't it?"

**The End**

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**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed it...I enjoyed writing it.**


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